Chapter 101 : Echoes of Unspoken Regrets

The words he couldn’t finish hovered around his lips.

Several times, his trembling hand gripped the doorknob and let go, but the moment Lee Chae said his farewell to the team leader, Hae-jin turned the handle with force.

As he entered, he saw Lee Chae, who had just stood up from his seat, looking back at him.

Those light brown eyes wavered restlessly.

It was a gaze filled with raw emotion, devoid of any act of playing hard to get or acting cold.

Hope sparked once again.

“Um, Representative?”

Hyun-jun, sensing the strange tension between the two who could neither approach nor withdraw from each other, instinctively took a step back and called out softly to Hae-jin.

However, when Hae-jin didn’t answer, he quietly slipped out of the room.

The brief moment it took for the door to close felt longer than the last three years.

Suppressing the instinct to snatch him up right then and there, Hae-jin forced the words out.

“Jung Lee Chae, wait. Please don’t leave.”

Hae-jin hurriedly lowered the blinds on the meeting room window.

‘Lee Chae hates it when people watch.’

Even in this moment, a deeply ingrained habit acted as a brake on Hae-jin’s actions.

Watching this, Lee Chae’s expression twisted strangely.

It was a face that looked like he was laughing and crying at the same time.

Before Hae-jin could even turn around after lowering the blinds, Lee Chae rounded the corner of the table and went to him.

And then…

Thud. Lee Chae threw his arms around Hae-jin’s waist and buried his face against him.

At the familiar touch against his cheek, something Lee Chae had been holding back for a long time seemed to burst forth.

Nothing had changed.

The war hadn’t ended, and he hadn’t suddenly gained the ability to regenerate.

So, he knew he shouldn’t be doing this for Cha Hae-jin’s sake.

Even if Cha Hae-jin filled every line of the contract with obsession and acted sensitive about contact with others, the situation hadn’t changed, so he shouldn’t do this.

He knew it, and yet…

He couldn’t let go of the man in his arms.

While Lee Chae clung tighter, Hae-jin stood frozen as if turned to stone.

He needed to apologize, to say he was wrong and that he didn’t mean those things, but his mouth wouldn’t open easily.

Hae-jin tried to maintain his composure, inhaling soundlessly.

He had already ruined things once; he couldn’t ruin them again.

“Earlier……”

A terribly hoarse voice broke through.

To have such a voice when he wanted to look cool.

Thinking it was better to show his face than to let him hear that voice, Hae-jin slowly turned around.

Moist, tearful eyes looked up at him.

Even though he wore such a fragile expression—looking as if he’d cry at the slightest touch—why on earth had he acted so heartless earlier?

Thinking that, Hae-jin cupped Lee Chae’s cheeks and rubbed the corners of his eyes with his thumbs.

His cheeks were still soft, but he was so thin that it made Hae-jin’s heart ache again.

Lee Chae couldn’t take his eyes off Hae-jin, but he shook his head and spoke.

“What’s with this all of a sudden?”

Hae-jin slowly closed and opened his eyes.

“How on earth did you live without me?”

“Well enough.”

At Lee Chae’s blunt remark, the two couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Then, Lee Chae followed up.

“I didn’t live well. What about you, Hyung?”

“I was dead.”

Hae-jin added after a deep sigh.

“It’s because I haven’t been in my right mind. I’ll regain my composure and sort things out one by one. Since it’s a mess I made.”

Lee Chae nodded.

They still hadn’t officially apologized after leaving scars on each other’s hearts.

As if trying to compensate for the time they had lost, they didn’t break eye contact for a single moment.

Their slow breaths mingled, and just as the two bodies drew closer…

An uninvited guest barged into the meeting room.

The intruder was Sung Jin-woo, the Vice-Captain of Legion, who had rushed over after receiving a report from Hyun-jun that the Representative seemed to have gone a bit strange because of the new recruit—and that the new recruit seemed pretty strange too.

“Good grief…… You two shouldn’t be doing this here. Are you really flirting in a sacred meeting room?”

Hae-jin glared at Jin-woo irritably.

“Get lost while I’m still being nice. This isn’t the time.”

Jin-woo snorted.

“I’m the one who should be telling you to get lost. You’re the ones who need to leave.”

After snapping at Hae-jin, Jin-woo turned his gaze toward Lee Chae.

Despite his blunt words, his face was full of smiles.

“Guide Jung Lee Chae, long time no see. It doesn’t seem like conversation is possible with this psycho, so why don’t you take him home?”

Lee Chae, unable to hide his delight, spoke with an excited expression.

“But it’s still working hours.”

Jin-woo shook his head as if he’d had enough.

“Typical Jung Lee Chae. Work? In the middle of all this?”

“The Team Leader might misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand what? He already figured it all out. There are guys waiting at Legion with their necks craned, so just go. Those b*stards have been harassing me about taking vacation since a week before you even arrived.”

I think I knew who those ‘guys’ were.

‘They’re still the same.’

My heart swelled at the thought that I had finally truly returned to Legion.

Lee Chae, feeling embarrassed when he made eye contact with Hae-jin while smiling, grabbed Hae-jin’s wrist and spoke.

“Representative, let’s go.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

Hae-jin followed obediently behind Lee Chae.

Conscious of the people outside, Lee Chae let go of Hae-jin’s wrist before opening the door and glanced at Jin-woo.

“Jin-woo Hyung—I mean, Vice-Captain, aren’t you leaving?”

“One of us has to stay, the Representative or the Vice-Captain. I’ll finish up early and head over, so wait for me. Jae-hyung said he bought 10 kilograms of beef.”

As they left the meeting room and crossed through the operations team toward the elevator, the suspicious gazes of the staff stuck to them, but Lee Chae tried his best to ignore them.

When they took the elevator down to the first floor, I saw that Legion had transformed into something incomparably more impressive than before.

The surroundings, which I hadn’t noticed when I came to work this morning, finally came into view.

How much hardship must he have endured to grow the guild to this extent?

“What are you thinking about?”

When I turned around, Hae-jin’s face was crumpled with worry.

I swallowed a sigh silently.

“I was thinking about you, Hyung.”

“Thinking what about me?”

His wide eyes seemed to ask, ‘You’re not going to leave me again, are you?’

Seeing Hae-jin sticking close to me, not even allowing me to think about something else for a moment, it was so absurd that I wondered if he was the same person who had spat out those cruel words in the Representative’s office earlier.

Hae-jin’s obsession was still the same, and I had already signed the contract.

From now on, I’d have to stay glued to Hae-jin, and eventually, he would jump at the chance to imprint again just like before.

‘Imprinting is a no-go, though……’

I didn’t realize it while swimming in a wave of emotion, but returning to reality, my mind was still in a state of confusion.

“Let’s talk while we go.”

Hae-jin opened the passenger door while holding Lee Chae’s hand tightly.

Sitting Lee Chae down, getting into the driver’s seat himself, and even the way his lips slightly brushed my ear while fastening my seatbelt—nothing had changed from the past.

The car pulled out of the parking lot.

When Lee Chae, who was looking out the window with a complex expression, reflexively turned his gaze, he saw a photo of the two of them with the sea in the background on the dashboard.

In the photo, Hae-jin was grinning widely as if nothing could be better, while Lee Chae was glaring at him.

Seeing the photo brought back memories of that time, making me choke up.

“What do you think? The photo is killer, right? I had it specially made……”

I couldn’t hear a word of his proud rambling.

It was because the memories I had tried to push away and not think about had come rushing back in an instant.

I had tried to throw away things that held memories or reminded me of Hae-jin, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, so I had hidden them in a box and placed them on the highest shelf of the closet.

I was too busy running away, fearing that facing reality would be too hard.

But Hae-jin had lived while carrying all those memories.

Out of guilt toward him, I could no longer turn away from reality.

“Hyung, I want to go somewhere quiet. Before we go to Legion.”

Was it because he wasn’t looking at my face while driving?

“Where? A secluded spot sounds great, I want that too.”

When I didn’t give an answer, Hae-jin belatedly turned his head.

“Why did you get so serious all of a sudden? You’re scaring me.”

“We have a lot to talk about.”

“……You’re not going to tell me you’re leaving again, are you? I’m scared.”

“It’s nothing like that, so just go.”

Hae-jin turned the car around.

Lee Chae didn’t bother to ask where they were going.

The place we arrived at was the neighborhood where Lee Chae used to live.

The neighborhood, which had been attacked by monsters several times, had turned into ruins.

Seeing the place that held so many memories in such a desolate state made my heart feel restless.

Hae-jin took Lee Chae’s hand and headed toward the bus stop.

They said the route had disappeared because the people living here had moved elsewhere after receiving subsidies from the Headquarters, but the bus stop itself remained intact, preserved just as it was.

As Lee Chae was about to sit down, Hae-jin told him to wait a moment and tried to wipe the bench with his sleeve.

Lee Chae quickly snatched Hae-jin’s hand.

“Don’t do things like this. What are you doing, getting your clothes dirty?”

“If you tell me not to do it, I won’t, but……”

Hae-jin withdrew his hand and sat down quietly.

Seeing him acting so uncharacteristically restless kept tugging at my heart.

I knew what that feeling was.

It was an emotion where anxiety, despair, and sadness hadn’t faded, yet he was also happy and glad to be together.

That’s why he keeps spitting out nonsensical words and acting strange.

Lee Chae was the same, he just wasn’t expressing it.

“I feel like I’m going to die from nervousness.”

“I already signed. I can’t go anywhere. Why are you so anxious when you know that?”

Hae-jin stared at Lee Chae’s face and then gave a short nod.

Lee Chae chose his words carefully in his head.

He was so confused he didn’t even know where to begin.

While he was letting out deep sighs, he saw a bus pass by without stopping.

By the time the next bus was due, Lee Chae spoke up quietly.

“Did you see the last text message I sent?”

“Yeah. And I know what it meant. Professor Kim once threatened me using your regeneration ability.”

Lee Chae’s shoulders flinched.

He wanted to demand why he hadn’t told him in advance then.

But he couldn’t say it.

He knew all too well that even if he had said it, nothing would have changed.

Lee Chae didn’t want to make excuses to Hae-jin, asking him to understand because he had no choice.

Even if it was for his sake, he had still hurt him.

“I’m sorry. It’s because my ability was lacking……”

He swallowed countless words and left only that one sentence.

Thinking about a bleak future with lives on the line, he knew he should still give up, but if he tried and simply couldn’t, what was he supposed to do?